Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

WARNINGS (Chapters May Contain): extensive cussing, homosexual relationships, somewhat graphic homosexual sex, mentions of cutting, mentions of past nonconsensual pedophilia

Pairings: NaruSasu, SuiKa, KakaSaku, (noncon/past) OroSasu

Notes: Check out the warnings/pairings for possible squickies you might get. If you feel pretty squick proof, then ignore. Despite the warnings/pairing squick thing, this is actually a pretty light hearted…okay, it's a Slice of Life, Expanded. It's light and it's heavy and it's funny and it's angsty and it defies rational thought. Fuck yeah.

My Only Exception

part I

It's snowing when they meet. It's also cold, and slushy, and dark, and windy when they meet. It's on Main Street of their tiny college town, but that counts for squat because the streetlights are all out from a fallen power line three blocks away and anyway all the pretty Christmas lights are already down because it's January and nobody is quite tacky enough to leave their Christmas lights up longer than permissible. All of that falls secondary though. It's not as poetic, you see. It sounds better to say that it's snowing when they meet than to say that it was a fucking miserable day in the middle of January when they meet.

Uzumaki Naruto is looking in a dark store window, hands stuffed deep into the pockets of his obnoxious orange coat and nose scrunched up with either distaste or confusion. He scowls, and rocks back on his (also obnoxiously orange) Converse clad heels, and then sighs very very very deeply like the weight of the world is on his shoulders.

Uchiha Sasuke is looking at Uzumaki Naruto, long artistmusiciancreator fingers clad in black cotton fingerless gloves tapping against his thigh and lower lip caught between his teeth. He tilts his head, and narrows his darkbluealmostblack eyes in confusion and interest, and then he breathes in very very very deeply like he's not sure he's going to get enough oxygen.

This is where the story starts. More stories should start like it.

Sasuke feels like a fucking creeper, hiding in the shadows like he is. If one calls the "shadows" the bus stop that goes from town back to the university. It's out of the line of sight, anyway, and even if it was in the line of sight Sasuke looks enough like a shadow himself that he probably wouldn't be seen anyway. But the thought of Uzumaki Naruto, Naruto, looking over and maybe catching sight of his too too pale skin against the too too dark of his haireyesclothesheart makes him freeze with horror and maybe just a little guilt. He shoves some of his inky dark hair behind one ear that's so cold that it's numb and looks down at the ground.

The wet, slushy, concrete ground. The wet, slushy, concrete ground which is so fucking boring compared to Naruto.

The temptation to peek at Naruto again grows. By centimeters. Tiny, tiny centimeters. (Or big, big meters, if he's being honest.) Distraction would be welcome. Anything to look at, to focus on, to pay attention to other that Naruto or this stupid fucking ground.

His cell buzzes in his pocket. He could be the type to send up prayers of thanks or maybe just a quiet hallelujah, but he's not, so Sasuke just pulls his cell out and flips it open. There are a series of texts from Karin.

where the duck are you, sasuke?

it was fuck not duck

stupid censoring phone autocorrect

I hate spellcheck

duck you spellcheck

fuck you doubly spellcheck

burn in heeeeell

Sasuke smirks at the So Typically Karin. His thumb pauses above the tiny cell keypad, quivering to unleash some snappy, sarcastic remark that will make her snicker. But, unwillingly unconsciously unsurely, he glances out of the corner of his eye at the oblivious blond still staring into that store window like it holds the key to the whole damn universe. Almost without thinking about it (at least not consciously, definitely) he flips his phone closed and stores it back in his pocket.

The bus isn't coming for another five minutes at least. Sasuke tries to gather up what passes as his courage. Most of it is utterly, completely fake and he knows it. But he does it anyway. He does it and he stuffs his hands into his hoodie pockets and he draws himself up to his full and impressive height of five eleven and he tries to get his feet to start moving in the vague general direction of fucking-star-on-earth-barely-contained-in-skin Uzumaki Naruto.

It doesn't work. He's stuck, frozen, cold and dark and shadowed and so afraid of the light. Sasuke wants to growl out expletives but his vocal cords are strung tight with too much adrenaline so all that will come out is a soft little whimper whine. His heart is the only thing that's working right, going so hard and fast and painful that it feels like it might just have to give out soon.

And then, then then then then, Naruto turns his head. His blue eyed gaze alights on Sasuke and it is all over. All over because Naruto smiles. He smiles like a little kid, too much teeth and too much happy. It's stupid and it's strange and it's actually kind of beautiful enough to make Sasuke's heart skip a beat or six. This is the type of smile that saves people's lives.

(It's going to save Sasuke, but he doesn't know that yet.)

Sasuke smiles back, a little. It a small, secretive curl at the corners of his mouth―the boy Mona Lisa. He sort of looks like a little boy too, the little shy mysterious intelligent snobby boy who nobody knows but everybody wants to and suddenly he's smiling at you and you have no idea why but you really suddenly realize that you'll do anything at all to keep that soft little smile there on his pink chapped lips and Naruto's feeling that, feeling this inexplicable stupid need to touchprotectsave the little Mona Lisa boy and his little Mona Lisa smile.

(But Sasuke doesn't know that, either.)

The smile and the feeling. It's all the invitation that one Uzumaki Naruto needs to come sauntering over, secrets-of-the-universe-holding-store-window apparently forgotten. "Hey," he says as he comes to a stop about a foot from Sasuke. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto."

Sasuke swallows a little and says, "Uchiha Sasuke." He wants to say more, but all he can think is "oh fucking God oh fucking God oh fucking God" which isn't really appropriate to repeat aloud.

Naruto grins easily and runs one huge callused hand through his wild blond hair. "Yeah, not to sound creepy but I've heard of you. That genius kid that all the girls were wild about freshman year."

A blush suffuses Sasuke's cheeks. Like he needs a reminder of that horrible, horrible year when he was stalked by what seemed like but couldn't possibly have been the entire female student body. Like he needs to know that the only reason that Uzumaki Naruto knows about him is because he was a heartthrob. Fuck. "Hn," he says, looking away into the street.

"Heh," Naruto says, sounding smug. Sasuke thinks for one horrified moment that Naruto is going to make a snarky comment about the fangirls or the blush, and that Sasuke is going to have to punch him for being such a douche, and this will all be over before Sasuke'd even had a chance to let it start and well goddamn. But Naruto doesn't say anything, instead apparently waiting for Sasuke to talk.

So Sasuke, rather than risking Naruto maybe getting fed up with waiting enough to actually start teasing, says, "Well, they're gone now."

"Yeah, they are. After the whole…" Naruto waves one hand vaguely, like he can encompass the whole incident sophomore year when it came out that Sasuke is asexual. (But that is before Naruto, and Sasuke is maybe more Narutosexual now than asexual, which is a disturbing thought all on its own because Sasuke so does not do sex or romance or anything like that.) Finally Naruto stop waving his hand, apparently feeling that Sasuke has gotten the point. "Yeah. So humor me. What the fuck is Uchiha Sasuke, prodigy genius and martial artist doing watching me on a shitty day in the middle of January?"

"I'm not stalking you," Sasuke says defensively before he can even really process what Naruto had asked.

Naruto laughs loudly. Sasuke's blush deepens but his hearts flutters. He likesadoresloves Naruto's laugh. But he doesn't like the feeling that Naruto is probably laughing at him instead of "with" him. "Right, not stalking me. What were you doing then?" Naruto asks, all congenial nicety and not at all smug except in the slight crinkling around the corners of his eyes like he's physically holding back the smugness.

Sasuke vaguely gestures down the street toward the town's tiny used book store. "Shut up, moron. I was at the book shop. I got really distracted and I missed the bus l was supposed to take originally. What were you doing here?" He scowls and shoves some more hair behind his ear.

"Oh, you know," Naruto says easily, grinning beatifically at Sasuke. "Stuff." Which is probably the lamest answer ever, and Sasuke is getting ready to say so when his phone buzzes in his pocket insistently.

With a low groan, Sasuke pulls his cell out, knowing that he needs to reply now or Karin is going to do something drastic. Sure enough, there is a text awaiting him that says quite succinctly: get your ears ass on the phone or I do something drastic. Ah Karin, he really does love her.

"Who's that?" Naruto asks softly.

Sasuke shrugs. "Karin," he answers, even though Naruto probably has no clue who 'Karin' is. Either way, Naruto nods amiably, like he does know and that it's Karin has explained everything. Strange strange boy man creature, this Uzumaki Naruto.

(So what does it say about Sasuke that he's madly in love with the other boy? Probably nothing good, that's for sure.)

"You gonna call her or something?" Naruto's eyes get all crinkly around the corners as he smiles this really cheeky, foxy, mischievous smile that'd better suit a ten year old with their hand caught in a cookie jar than a twenty year old college student with their hands safely ensconced in their pockets.

"I guess," Sasuke says noncommittally. His eyes keep betraying him, dragging his gaze from the safe ground or sky or buildings to stare at that kind of crooked but kind of beautiful smirk smile on Naruto's lips. Chapped lips, cracked and split and peeling a little because of course Naruto is the type to chew on his lips and Sasuke should have guessed. Unappealing lips, really, a little on the thin side even if they weren't already mangled. Sasuke should not want to kiss those lips.

The phone buzzes again. Sasuke looks down at the screen dully. final warning sasuke -.- Giving up, Sasuke punches in the correct speed dial and hold his phone up to his ear. It only rings twice before Karin picks up.

"Sasuke!"

He winces a little and holds the phone a bit further from his ear. Naruto clearly didn't miss that movement, because he snickers and the foxy smirk smile widens and becomes more of a smirk than a smile. Sasuke makes a half hearted threatening gesture at Naruto, but it doesn't have much heat behind it.

"Yeah, Karin?" He says calmly enough, all things considered.

"Don't you 'yeah, Karin' me, Sasuke. You were supposed to meet us here an hour ago," Karin snaps. "An hour. Hour. As in, a period of sixty minutes. As in, a long time. As in, the fuck?" Karin's on a roll, now. Sasuke probably could've headed this whole mess off if he'd just answered her first text. But he didn't, and now it's too late, and it's only going to go downhill from here.

Sasuke sighs and rubs at the bridge of his nose. "Karin…" he starts. Hope for fending off Karin, after all, springs eternal.

"Oh no. The only way you are getting out of this one, Sasuke, is if you skipped out on us because you met the love of your life." This is said is a very, very, very sarcastic manner. Because Sasuke is asexual, and everyone knows that if he had any interest in girls he'd be with Karin.

"Hah, fat chance of that," comes Suigetsu's mocking voice. He must be listening over Karin's shoulder. And, well, everyone knows that if Sasuke had any interest in boys he'd be with Suigetsu. Or Juugo, maybe.

The fact is, they're not going to believe him if he says that he really did just meet the love of his life. But he'll say it anyway. The shock alone might be enough to shut them up.

"As it happens, I did," Sasuke says calmly. He's waiting for that to sink in when his phone abruptly leaves his grasp.

Sasuke gapes in horror as Naruto holds Sasuke's phone up to his own tan ear, smirk smirk smirking with moutheyesfacesoul. "Yeah, hey. You must be Karin. Uzumaki Naruto number one most surprisingly awesome college student here. I'm going to steal Sasuke for the afternoon. Kay thanks, bye." He hangs up the phone then, but Sasuke can hear Karin's disbelieving shriek right before the call cuts off.

"Um…" Sasuke says. He seriously cannot think of a single better thing to say.

"Heh," Naruto says, looking immensely please with himself. "Now come on, I'm stealing you." He grabs Sasuke's hand and starts tugging him down the sidewalk. "We'll go get coffee or something."

"I-idiot!" Sasuke yelps, trying to take his hand back. Naruto laughs long and loud and bright, and Sasuke's heart stutters to a stop before starting up double-time. The double-time heartbeat doesn't do much except add more blood to the capillaries in Sasuke's cheeks which translates to brighter darker noticable-er blushing which isn't good at all.

Then Naruto looks back at Sasuke, his fingers tangle with Sasuke's, and he says, "Whatever you say, Sasuke." and Sasuke kind of sort of falls in love.

Karin stares down at her cell in shock, nose wrinkling up in a way that would be unattractive on pretty much anyone else. She can feel Suigetsu's jaw pressing against her shoulder and his chest slumping against her back, and for once she cannot muster the will to call him a dumbfuck while beating him with the nearest available object for invading her personal space. Hell, she even slumps back into him a little, just for the support of his solid swimmer body.

"I…" Karin starts. "He…" she tries again. But that's about all she can manage, and Suigetsu nods dumbly in agreement, his sharp, bony jaw line pushing against her shoulder with the movement. She winces and smacks his nearest appendage (an arm, as it were) weakly. "Ow," she says.

"Yeah," Suigetsu says, instead of nodding again and possibly risking Karin's wrath. Not that Karin's wrath is particularly awe inspiring at the moment. "Juu?" he says after a moment. Karin looks over at Juugo, whom she had almost forgot was there despite his huge presence.

Across the table, Juugo watches them calmly. His over large hands are folded on the table. Unlike Karin and Suigetsu, Juugo manages to be the picture of demure, unruffled calm. The creep. "Yes?" Juugo says cheerfully.

Karin groans loudly enough that a few patrons of the coffee shop they're in actually turn to look at her. She doesn't care. Instead, she brandishes her phone at Juugo. "Juugo, Sasuke is on a date. With Uzumaki Naruto. King of the Idiots and the Losers and the Brawn Over Brains and the Other People Sasuke Can't Stand Ever Under Any Circumstances."

"That's nice," Juugo says. Karin blinks several times. "I've always thought Sasuke might have something for Uzumaki. They work well together, I believe." There are about six beats of silence before Juugo stirs some sugar into his coffee, takes a sip, and then holds up a little packet of sugar to Karin, "Sugar?"